


The One with the Snails

by Jadzibelle



Series: 3am Questions [4]
Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: 3AM Questions, Fluff, Mentions of Drinking (mild), Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 13:50:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5542271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadzibelle/pseuds/Jadzibelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duke asks ridiculous questions in the middle of the night.  Audrey is pretty sure it's Nathan's job to field these things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One with the Snails

In some ways, everything had been so much easier than Audrey expected.  The three of them, together, it was just… _right_.  They _fit_ , and she’d known they would, once Nathan let his guard down a little and Duke gave actual sincerity a try instead of hiding behind sarcasm, once she’d come to terms with the idea that pushing them away wasn’t actually _protecting_ them.  Falling into each other just… worked, and maybe it wouldn’t last and maybe they wouldn’t actually solve everything, but at least, for now, it was _good_.

Usually.

There were a few things she hadn’t quite banked on.

For example, the fact that Duke apparently never quite _completely_ turned off.  It wasn’t that he didn’t sleep; he did, he just… slept lightly, in fits and starts.  And for all his talk about meditation and the benefit of clearing one’s mind, apparently he wasn’t actually any _good_ at it.

“Audrey.   _Audrey_.”  Duke nudged against her back, a hint of a whine in his voice, and Audrey considered whether or not it would be worth the epic pouting tomorrow if she hit him with a pillow.  They’d had a good evening- a really, _really_ good evening, in point of fact- but he and Nathan had finished it off by splitting a bottle of something expensive and alcoholic, and Duke had done _far_ more of the heavy lifting in terms of finishing it off, and he’d been clingy and demanding and _difficult_ as a result.  Getting him to bed in the first place had been a process, she’d hoped he’d at least be intoxicated enough to sleep through the night.

No such luck, apparently, and Duke nudged her again, pressed all along her back, insistent.

“ _Audrey_.”

“ _What_.”  She rolled over enough to look at him through narrowed eyes, and immediately felt guilty for the harshness in her tone; he had his earnest, imploring, _concerned_ expression on, all wide eyes and tousled hair and intensity.

Which was entirely unreasonable at four o’clock in the morning, but hard to resist, even so.

“D’you think snails have feelings?”

…Okay, maybe not so hard to resist.  Audrey blinked at him, trying to come up with a logical reason why she’d been woken up in the middle of the night for that absurd a question.

…Probably Nathan’s fault, actually, Duke generally went to _him_ with his drunken philosophical ramblings, but Nathan was a lot harder to wake up than Audrey was, because he didn’t respond to Duke’s nudging.

And Duke was still staring at her, clearly waiting for an answer, and Audrey blinked again and tried to process.

“What?” she managed again, and it was at least a little less hostile.

“Do you think snails have feelings?”  And okay, that, that was in fact what he’d asked her, she hadn’t misheard him.

“…Why.”

“There were snails on the patio,” Duke explained, and Audrey almost regretted asking, wasn’t sure she actually _wanted_ the logic behind the question, but it was four in the damn morning and she was not at her most cautious.  “And I moved ‘em so nobody stepped on them but what if they _wanted_ to be on the patio, y’know?  What if they’re not happy where I left them?”  And God help her, Duke sounded _upset_ about the thought, genuinely upset.  “I mean, they’re so _slow_ , Audrey, it takes them so much _effort_ to go places, what if they hate me now because they were on a, a _sojourn_ and I wrecked it and-”

“Duke.”

“-they’ll never know if they could’ve made it to where they were going, they-”

“Duke.  The snails do not hate you,” Audrey said, and she was not entirely sure if having to convince one of her boyfriends that arbitrary bugs did not hate him at four in the morning was more or less strange than convincing Marcy Sellers that it was actually her own jealousy that had turned her skin traffic-light-green.

Audrey lived a very strange life, now that she thought about it.

“But what if they _do_?” Duke asked, with all the urgency he usually applied to questions like _are you sure I am stronger than my Trouble_ , and Audrey heaved a sigh.

“Duke.  Sweetie.  The snails do not hate you.  You moved them so they didn’t get hurt, right?”

“…Yes,” Duke acknowledged, still clearly unsold.

“Then you did the right thing, and I’m sure they appreciate that.”  Audrey was sure of no such thing, because they were _snails_ , but whatever, she wanted to go back to sleep.

“But-”

“Nathan,” Audrey said, reaching out with her foot to nudge Nathan in the calf, and having to tangle her legs through Duke’s to do so- Duke slept in the middle specifically so that Audrey wouldn’t accidentally wake Nathan up in the middle of the night, but right now, she needed backup.  “Nathan, wake up.”  She poked him again, and he made an annoyed sound.  “ _Nathan_.”

“ _What_ ,” Nathan growled, rolling over, blinking, and Audrey gave Duke a gentle push in Nathan’s direction.

“Tell Duke that the snails don’t hate him so that he can go back to sleep,” she said, and Nathan blinked at her, and she could see him going through the same process she had, struggling to make some sort of sense out of that.  She wished him the best of luck; Duke had already turned over to fix his attention on Nathan, she was free and clear.  She turned her back to the both of them and settled back in, closing her eyes.

“…The snails don’t hate you,” Nathan said, clearly deciding not to bother with context.

“But-”

“No one hates you, Duke, go back to _sleep_ ,” Audrey said.

“You woke me up for snails?” Nathan asked, apparently only just processing that.

“I _moved them_ ,” Duke said, by way of explanation, and Audrey heard Nathan sigh, felt him shift, felt the inevitable jostling as Nathan hauled Duke closer to him- they were neither of them light, and when they rearranged, the whole bed moved with them- and she turned enough to peek.  Nathan was on top of Duke, pinning him to the mattress, and she maybe melted a little; she was never going to get over the fact that Nathan’s preferred solution to Duke being restless at night was to simply lie on top of him until he _stopped_.

Or over the fact that it generally _worked_.

“The snails do not hate you,” Nathan repeated, the words a little muffled against Duke’s shoulder.  “But those of us who have work in the morning might.  Lie down and shut up.”

“You don’t hate me,” Duke said, and he already sounded muzzier, and Audrey had to respect Nathan’s efficiency.

“Don’t be so sure of that,” Nathan replied, though there was unmistakable affection in his tone.

“You don’t,” Duke said again, voice warm.

“…I don’t,” Nathan agreed, and Duke gave a contented sigh and _settled_.  Nathan shot a quick glance in Audrey’s direction, and she smiled at him, and he rolled his eyes and smiled back, though she was pretty sure he was going to insist that she owed him a coffee in the morning.

Fair enough, he’d gotten Duke quiet.  She let her eyes close, and drifted back off into sleep.


End file.
